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Post by Cher on Oct 13, 2004 11:53:13 GMT -5
Ok, I have four barrels, three are 3# and one is 1.5 # which is my polish barrel. I use these for each stage, 60/90, 120/200, 500 to avoid cross-contamination of grit. After that, stuff like the tripoli, AO polish, cerium etc goes into the polish barrel. (They all seem like fine powder so I'm assuming those are ok in the same barrel, carefully washed between stages.) Right now I have stuff running in 60/90 but the barrels I have for 120/200 and 500 are sitting empty and driving me nuts. I can't stand seeing them sitting there any longer, they need to be rolling!! Would I be risking too much cross-contamination if also use the 120/200 barrel for 60/90? Do you believe these barrels can be cleaned out enough not to worry? I filled it with lakers and almost dumped in the grit then decided I'd best ask the experts. Any thoughts and suggestions are truly appreciated. pages.prodigy.net/bestsmileys1/signs/RockOn.gif [/img] ~ Cher ~
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Post by krazydiamond on Oct 13, 2004 12:01:58 GMT -5
i DO know the feeling....an empty barrel is a terrble thing to waste. i haven't used my polish barrel or prepolish barrel for anything else (and it KILLS me when one of them is idle!!), but i have run 220 and 60/90 in the same barrel with very good cleaning in between. with my first tumbler, i used the same barrel for all cycles and if you are meticulous about cleaning it, you minimize the risk of cross contamination.
i have found the intermediate borax wash helps (water, borax, stones and pellets if necessary) letting them roll for a few hours to really clean the stones and the barrel.
my opinion anyway, KD
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69beeper
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 377
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Post by 69beeper on Oct 13, 2004 12:11:38 GMT -5
I was under the impression that the #60/90 breaks down to #120 or better after a week. I went ahead and used one of my barrels for both cycles. We'll see what happens, my first batch went into final polish last night. Jimmy
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Post by rockyraccoon on Oct 13, 2004 13:29:15 GMT -5
i do it cher.
kim
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Foreverdown
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 66
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Post by Foreverdown on Oct 13, 2004 13:33:43 GMT -5
I have a CE model with two 3# barrels. I use one barrel just for the 60/90 and the 120/220. The other barrel is for the pre polish and final polish. I do run a wash cycle when changing stages. I use borax and water along with the rocks. When I am going from pre-polish to polish I include the pellets as to get them as clean as possible. I also save my pellets in appropiately marked baggies and reuse them. As long as you clean the barrels very good, you shouldn't have any contamination. Just a note, I had one rock in my first batch that had a tiny pocket in it. After the rough grind I looked at it closely and noticed some grit in there. I cleaned the pocket out very good between each stage just to make sure. It came out just fine along with the rest of the batch. And I know the empty feeling of having a barrel that is not tumbling.... despair... Good luck and keep on tumblin' [glow=blue,2,300]Brett[/glow]
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Post by Cher on Oct 13, 2004 15:19:07 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300] ~ WooHooo ~[/glow] My first batch of Lake Superior Agates is rolling! I was so glad to hear you guys say that. And you're right, TIME is being wasted, especially when it takes so darn long in 60/90. These are going to be there for awhile, I'm sure it's going to take forever to get them shaped. I am so tempted to buy myself another CE, that twin-barrel for $29.99 is so tempting but can't talk hubby into another one. He says I spent tooooo much already. Pfffffttttttttttt I say NOT!! Cher
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Post by krazydiamond on Oct 13, 2004 17:26:15 GMT -5
as i put my second CE unit out of service today, i would strongly recommend that you consider a Lortone addition instead of buying more CE's. you sound as though you are truly hooked and will be in this hobby for the long haul, so i suggest you invest in better equipment. i am biting the same bullet.
don't get me wrong, the CE's worked hard 24/7 for almost a year, but they are just wearing out and i am tired of changing belts all the darn time. i will continue to run them until they give up the ghost and maybe "work" on them to get them serviceable again, but not to depend on for vital continuity of stone workings.
christmas is coming, how do we get your husband on the same page?
KD
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Post by Cher on Oct 13, 2004 17:54:10 GMT -5
*sigh* My Christmas already came and went in the form of a dremel. I don't have anything left to bargain with, 'cept maybe my birthday but that's not until next April. I agree though, I'd love to get a second double Lortone like the one I have now rather than getting the CE. It's just the price difference that makes the CE so much more attractive but then the Lortones have a much better resale value too. Actually, I'd like to go right to a 12 pounder, like that Thumler's that Cabela's has. I think that would be so awesome to be able to tumble that many at one time. Seems like you'd always be able to have stuff ready for the next stages.
Cher
PS ... What do you mean you put it out of service? Did it die on you?
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AgateHunter
starting to spend too much on rocks
LAKE SUPERIOR AGATE Minnesota State Gemstone
Member since September 2004
Posts: 107
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Post by AgateHunter on Oct 13, 2004 20:01:01 GMT -5
I bought two more barrels for my Lortone double 3#. I have 2 for the Grits and two for pre-polish and polish. I spray painted the barrel bottoms RED for grit and BLUE for polish. This helps me keep them straight.
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Post by krazydiamond on Oct 13, 2004 20:43:17 GMT -5
they weren't .......going well...slow....not fast enough...no RPM........i changed belts, i adjusted, i tweaked and fussed....i finally pulled the plug. i will deal with them when i have the mood..i just don't know what to do to get them back in good shape...i will start with taking them to bits and cleaning everything.
KD
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Post by puppie96 on Oct 14, 2004 0:07:04 GMT -5
Cher, the only barrel I try to keep for a sole purpose is the polish barrel, and I've been known to cheat on that, too. As far as the preceding grinds go, I don't think it matters at all to use the same barrels, since as others said, the grit breaks down through the grinds, and obviously you wash the stones and barrel well. Going from any of the grinds to a polish in the same barrel does make me nervous, although I've polished stuff in other barrels and it has worked okay, I've done some others that didn't get as good as they should have. I only had one barrel for a while so my first few batches were all done from start to finish in the same barrel and they came out fine.
I just got a big Lortone and I love it. The 12lb. model and the 2 6lb. model both have the same base. The unit with the 2 6-lb. barrels is more expensive (duh). I found a great price with a dealer I found on Ebay for the 2-6lb. unit and then bought a 12lb. barrel from Mama's, which had the best price I found. I believe that this combination was the best available deal getting all 3 of the barrels.
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Post by Cher on Oct 14, 2004 12:08:37 GMT -5
Wow Puppie, you should be turning out polished rocks really fast with that set up, how long have you had it?
Cher
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Post by puppie96 on Oct 15, 2004 4:04:36 GMT -5
Cher, it's been maybe 3 weeks. Today I ordered another 6-lb barrel. I love this thing for rough grinding, but I was going nuts because I wanted to keep one of the 6-lbs for polish and for once, I stuck to that. It makes me crazy to only have one 6-lb barrel taking up the whole setup, if you follow me. So now, I can do 2 6-lb barrels at the same time and reserve the third one for polish. That works so well if you start a big load in the 12-lb barrel and keep sorting it -- you can move the good ones to a 6-lb barrel for 220 and use the other one to continue the coarse grind, if you need to. This is like all of these things, I've got a lot of stuff in the pipeline.
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